Kyrie Irving is in an odd situation at the moment. Reports suggest that the Nets man opted into the final year of his deal so that he could spend another season and see through his commitment to the team. However, it was expected across the NBA that he would end up joining the Los Angeles Lakers because the Lakers’ stars were reported to want him to join the team.
Things seem to have stalled on that front, reportedly thanks to the Lakers not being willing to include as many draft picks in the deal as the Nets were expecting. One way or another, there hasn’t been much movement on that front, and many are starting to question if Irving will even end up with the Lakers.
And now NBA analyst Skip Bayless has suggested that he might not even wish to move. Speaking on his show Undisputed, he suggested that the lack of public suggestions from Kyrie that he wants to go to LA shows that he may not be that keen on the move.
https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/1555582817895170048
“If Kyrie wants so badly to reunite with LeBron James in LA, why hasn’t Kyrie gone public with his trade demand by saying, ‘I want to go to the Lakers. I’m not going to be happy in Brooklyn. Get me to LA.’ Why hasn’t that happened yet?”
The Lakers’ roster still very much seems far away from contending for an NBA title coming out of a stacked Western Conference. The Russell Westbrook situation remains unresolved, and the former MVP may not be that easy to integrate if they cannot move on from him.
As far as Irving goes, the longer the Nets wait to deal him, the likelier it gets that he will end up staying. Considering that he was a large part of the reason this latest iteration of the team didn’t work, though, they might not want to keep him. If Irving doesn’t want to go to the Lakers, it’s hard to see how that deal goes through.
